Russian cuisine: Chicken Kiev’s French connection

Combination of chicken breast, herbs and lots of butter has been the
world-wide standard bearer for Russian cuisine for most of the 20th century

Irakli Iosebashvili, Gourmand

1:20PM BST 29 Apr 2014

When it comes to Russian cuisine, you can divide dishes into two types: the ones you would be hard pressed to find outside of Siberia (stroganino, anyone?), and those that have achieved worldwide fame.

Although it’s unknown exactly how Chicken Kiev has made it onto the menu of every self-respecting Russian restaurant from Brighton Beach to Sydney, this simple yet tasty combination of chicken breast, herbs and lots of butter has been the world-wide standard bearer for Russian cuisine for most of the 20th century.

Despite its name, the origins of this dish are hotly disputed. Russia, of course, claims it for its own. Ukrainians, too, for obvious reasons, consider it their national dish. The most likely evidence, however, points to France, which has spawned more than one “Russian” dish in its culinary history.

In the 18th century, say food historians, French cuisine was so popular in St Petersburg that the Empress Elizabeth would send scores of chefs to study in Paris. One of them returned with a recipe for Cotelettes de Volaille, a dish not unlike Chicken Kiev. It would be a revolution and two World Wars later that the cutlets would finally acquire their famous name, when they were served in Kiev, to honour a Ukrainian delegation returning from Berlin in 1947.